To encourage the exchange of thoughts about Deepak Chopra and his work, we will post your comments, inquiries, and opinions. Please feel free to respond to someone else's comments or questions, or simply post your own. Post a Message | Read the Forum | Sign the Guestbook Please Post Your Comments Name: Email Address: Comments:

Hadi,

I just re-read one of your comments, where you said "a great deal still eludes and baffles me". Here are some words from Caroline Myss

"Our lives are made up of a series of mysteries that we are meant to explore but that are meant to remain unsolved. We are meant to live with the questions we have about our lives, even use them as companions, and allow them to lead us into the deepest recesses of our nature, wherein we discover the Sacred"

So, everything is as it should be. :) Welcome to the club.

Your wish is my command.

Vote for your favourite.

Silvia: where are you and help me out by printing your email address for me so I can communicate. I am in Austin, Texas USA. Where are you? You are very real also. Thanks for the notice! Cecile

There are many things real and imagined that can bring us the sense of joy available to us in our hearts and our minds. This morning I imagined I awoke in a cool cave, dark and comfortable, on a soft furry bed and before me was a beautiful bright light shining into the doorway of my magic cave and it represented all things good and exciting awaiting me in the new day ahead. Remember, each day is new, each new thought opens our potential for great and beautiful deeds in our life. Even at our worst, we have great abilities, maybe even more than we know ourselves. Thanks to everyone for the lovely messages. I send out my well wishes to all. Many thanks to Dr. Chopra for making such a profound impact on my life.

No, don't. Just don't even think about it. ;)

P.S. the Dodge festival occurs every two years in September. It is well worth a visit as it showcases the world's best poets. Since it is 2000, there is one coming soon. I think they even have a website.

Whoever coined it did not have this crazy, noisy virtual world in mind... It is so nice to be unplugged sometimes. I think mobile telephones and WAP will take away those few quiets moments we share with loved ones so we can watch the stock market fluctuate 24/7...

I'm with you Kererya, there are times when the silence is blissful. I may ride in trains or drive 90+ minutes to civilization when working, but there is nothing that can compare to the experience this afternoon of walking through a cornfield with stalks and leaves so tall the sky almost disappears. I was actually lost for a few minutes until I finally emerged on the other side of the field, found the roof of the farmhouse and wandeled on back towards the house.

At that point I had no knowledge, information or education and it was great to just be fully in nature's peace and quiet. A doe and children and I passed each other in silence without much fanfare.

I thought about cranking up some Aretha today in your honor love, but won't spoil the bliss and quiet. Highly recommend a Bill Moyers tape series called Poetry - The Language of Life. He recorded it in 1994 at the Geraldine R. Dodge poetry festival in Waterloo, New Jersey and there are 8 incredible hour long shows featuring 20 or so amazing poets and their work. (Coleman Barks and Rumi is featured on tape 2). The audio is available as is the video. Great listening.

Hello Carol. I owe you a long note love.

I hope everyone has their alternate URL sources for spiritual hits lined up, in anticipation of the brown-outs and black-outs we've been told to plan on.

I was a little encouraged by the announcements where these are expected to happen by the fact commercial/industrial complexes are being asked to curtail their demand.

The "encouragement" being they're not asking us small users (consumers) to cut back, so the commercial/industrial complexes can keep going full tilt.

"ground "

Better yet Hadi......an ostrich with it's head in the groung.

Kereyra: Whoever coined that meaningless platitude was probably a politician.

Ignorance: Lack of knowledge, information or education.

Bliss: perfect happiness; serene joy; the ecstatic joy of heaven; love.

The goldfish may be experiencing either or both of these states, but the two do not equate.
The attainment of wisdom and knowledge is one of the pillars of spiritual and Buddhist teachings. The politicians would like you to believe "ignorance is bliss" so that you never grow to threaten their egos.

I'm glad you and your husband are finding some time and some peace to appreciate and enjoy each other. Like a couple of blissful goldfish.

We need an animated goldfish, Geoff

Truly amazing the scope of my ignorance, our ignorance! Our individual worlds are so limited, no matter how open we are to everything around is. I'm always amazed at what I don't know, amazed at how many opportunities for learning I turn down, most likely fear of information overload! Still, without making learning a conscious process, there are plenty of opportunities for experiencing...and through the experience comes the lesson, many times.

I'm thinking of a valuable lesson we're experiencing at home. Our three boys went camping and my husband and I have the house to ourselves, which is an extremely unusual event. We've both been enjoying the quiet, and each other, without interruption. Ah! The importance of quiet time, of intimacy, of uninterruption!

*wondering* Isn't there a saying, "ignorance is bliss?" The goldfish in its tiny portion of its pool lives in ignorance of its depths, and yet, it lives in bliss.

"Don't get even, get odd"

Swami Beyondananda

Yes, I've often felt like a fish out of the water! While all the other little fishies were swimming around in (seemingly) blissful ignorance. :)

Don't they say a goldfish has an attention span of a few seconds so they never get bored swimming around-and-around-and-around .... :)

Okay Carol, you asked for it.

I've transcribed a few of my notes from the Tenzin Palmo experience. I found these notes were somewhat sketchy due to learning fairly early in the day that some kind soul had ordered the audio tapes of the day's proceedings for my upcoming birthday. :) So I spent most of the day just listening and absorbing.

Nothing she said was essentially "new" to me but the way she seamlessly strung it all together without sounding "rehearsed" in any way was wonderful. Like threading pearls onto a piece of string. "It aint what you do, it's the WAY that you do it." :)

Tenzin is a sublime communicator for someone who spent 12 years alone in a cave in Tibet. Like most enLIGHTened biengs, she has a fabulous sense-of-humour and never takes anything too seriously. Her discourse on the open, spacious nature of the mind had us spellbound. But, of course, to do justice to her words I will have to wait until the tapes arrive and trancribe them. You may have to nudge me through cyberspace to remind me to do so.

I do remember her emphasis that wisdom & compassion need to go hand-in-hand. That one is not much use without the other. There was also a long discussion on how we identify with our bodies, thoughts, feelings, judgements, social role etc. and especially our suffering. She said 'We weave our entire identity around our sufferings. We are such perverse creatures.' This was said in a matter-of-fact tone rather than a tone of judgement or condemnation.

At the end of the day, we dedicated the collective good karma of the day to the benefit of all beings everywhere. It was a memorable day for me as I had not been present at such a gathering before (discounting previous lifetimes :)

You can see what other impressions I got from the day by clicking here - it's towards the end of the file.

The present has nothing to do with time.
If you are just here in this moment,
there is no time.
There is immense silence, stillness,
no movement; nothing is passing,
everything has come to a sudden stop.

OSHO

Peggy, I absolutely agree with you; that's why I have been silent. I have been reading the comments addressed to you and I suddenly understood the beauty of life. I used to read books by authors like Chopra because I thought that they held the secret tools for me to achieve any material thing I wanted:) But, I never got much out of them, as I was always trying to solve a specific problem. Sometimes, I feel like my journey through lives is this huge tapestry on a wall, but I get so caught up in each intricate part that I forget to take a step back, and see the beauty of the whole design. I went on a hike this weekend, and I was so busy paying attention to the trail and watching out for snakes and stuff; then I suddenly looked up and saw the amazing view. It made me realize that in order to truly live, I must experience life, but in order to revere who I really am, I must remember this is an illusion. Literally then, if I don't pay attention to this moment, there is a chance that I will slip and fall; yet, if I remain too focused on the moment, I will miss the greater lessons open to me. I am also becoming aware that love and an open heart do not cause pain. Rather it is my attempts to have my love acknowledged, and my refusal to believe that loving someone is a complete act in and of itself,that causes pain. I was reading Neale D. Walsch's book wherein it says "If you do not go within, you go without". And suddenly everything made perfect sense, and I could appreciate this man in my life, whose rejection forced me to turn within. Had he said "yes", I would have been content to see the beauty in him, but because he said "no", I was forced to find the beauty in me. :) Sweet dreams all!

Chris: LOL!! And the worst of it is, we don't even know what's at the bottom of our own oceans or in the depths of Loch Ness! Not to mention the fraction we know about ourselves!

Namaste'.

I was gifted this book - seven spiritual laws of success by my uncle in U.S .Just started reading it and found that although it is similar in the teachings by various other behavioural sciences' authors books but the holistic way which he has adopted to explain the basic laws is so simple and effective that it MOVES.... really.

I am eager to read the thoughts and ideas on these pages.

Ravi I don't know the answer to why H2O is liquid at room temperature while CO2 is a gas. I don't think the atomic weight of the molecule necessarily relates to whether it is solid, liquid or gas. I've got a chemistry professor collogue here at work that I will ask next time I see him. I do know that water is a very special molecule for more than one reason which makes life possible. The fact that it is one of the very few (perhaps only) compounds that expands when it freezes had a lot to do with the evolution of life on earth. I agree that the Earths environmental status is a very special and rare case. Perhaps it is a one in a billion chance to have all the right conditions to form the kind of abundance of life like we see here on Earth. That only means that there are about 100 planets like the Earth in our galaxy alone, and there are 100's of billions of galaxies! I agree with Hadi that life is probably very abundant in the universe.

Hadi & Geoff I went to lunch with one of the astronomy professors at work Friday and she was telling me about how it is now believed that the universe is accelerating in it's expansion. They theorize that 70% of the universe is made up of some kind of anti-stuff that repels ordinary matter like how gravity attracts ordinary matter. This repulsion is what they believe is causing the expanding universe to accelerate. They don't know the first thing about this stuff other than if it exists is must make up about 70% of the universe. So if this is true, we don't have a clue about what 70% of the universe is made of. Of the remaining 30%, 90% of that consists of "Dark-Matter", which we also don't really have a clue about. So basically all of our scientific understanding of the physical universe is based on the study of only like 3% of what makes up the universe! Now if that's not enough to make you sit back and go "Ahhh", 90% of physical universe we do have a clue about is hydrogen and the other 10% is almost entirely helium. The stuff that the Earth (and us) is made of like Carbon, Oxygen, Iron, Nickel etc. is just a fraction of a percent of a fraction of a percent of a fraction of a percent of what makes up the universe.

Now if we are a carp swimming in a tiny pond, not only are we blissfully unaware of invisible, unseen universes hovering just "above" us, we have only explored and understand the tiniest percent of our pond. Kind of makes me sit back and go "Hmmmm" and then want to go shopping for chocolate.

mornin..thanks geoff for sharing the bits and words of tenzins' and dolores..thanks for your referrals for mandalas...now only to grab the time..i've been working like a crazy person...as a matter of fact my shop has quite a few people walking around...one thing..in augusts issue of vanity fair magazine, the horoscopes are always quite funny and apt...and the last line for scorpio says...'if you can't get to nepal or lourdes, head for the nearest mountain or source of flowing water--sosmeplace where you can breathe and rinse out your brain'.....now there's a plan!!!! i think i'm really up to rinsing out my brain...bye for now..x

Ravi: thank you for your kind words, but I assure you that a great deal still eludes and baffles me. While I talk about a lot of these things with a measure of understanding I continue to struggle with the integration of the ideas as much as anyone.

Now, regarding your carbon and water question I don't understand how or why. However, I think the case for how unique we are on this planet has been built already by the Creationists and the Church who also believe that we are the center of the universe, etc. Personally I find this idea to be egotistical. While life itself may seem like a miracle, miracles happen all the time. I believe that not only is there life throughout the universe, but my experiences inform me that there are other dimensions of intelligence right here and elsewhere. Geoff posted a very interesting link further down this page called the "theory of Everything" in which our dimensional perception of reality was compared with that of a fish, a carp in fact, and the fact that the carp would be ignorant of the universe and the physics of the world beyond the surface of the water overhead. It goes on...

"Today, many physicists believe that we are the carp, swimming in our tiny pond, blissfully unaware of invisible, unseen universes hovering just above us in hyperspace. We spend our life in three spatial dimensions, confident that what we can see with our telescopes is all there is, ignorant of the possibility of 10-dimensional hyperspace."

With the discovery in the last few years that the universe is abundent with water I find it pretty difficult to even entertain the idea that life is rare. I am sure it is abundant.

please do, Geoff!

Hi Ravi! can't answer your question concerning C02/h20 but i hope it is a repeatable process, somewhere....

Namasté friends and thanks for the thought provoking posts....

The Eco Crisis

posted to: Deepak's Board
poster: Deepak Chopra
date: 7/9/00 11:47:01 PM

Question: In my "Search for Self" philosophy course we discussed your philosophy and its value in the eco-crisis. I was interested in hearing your own ideas about what concept of the self underlies the Eco-Crisis?

Answer: The eco-crisis has occurred because we have alienated ourselves from our extended body which we call the environment. The biosphere, the eco-system, is not really the environment, it is our extended body. Trees are not trees, they are our lungs. If they do not breath, we do not breath. And if we do not breath, the trees don't breath. So we need to see that the true meaning of dharma is actually for us to have a unique relationship with a biosphere that gives birth to us. Unless there is a fundamental shift where we can see the Earth as our mother and as the womb from where we are spawned, no amount of philosophical analysis is going to change the eco-crisis. The transformation has to come from within. I think that as we move into the future to create a critical mass of people (through the internet and information technology), who really care about their extended body and feel at an emotional level, an intimate relationship with their mother earth, then the eco-crisis will finally be overcome. This has to be a radical transformation at the core of our being. Our current science has alienated us from our mother earth because we look at nature as if from the outside, when in fact we are products of nature and very much on the inside. A great poem by Rumi says,

I have lived on the lip of insanity
Wanting to know reasons
Knocking on the door.

The door finally opens
I've been knocking from the inside.

So let us once again recognize that we are the children of mother earth and not outside her womb.

Deepak Chopra
howtoknowgod.com

Good evening all,

Yesterday we went along to listen to tenzin Palmo here in Melbourne (Australia). I can tell you the 12 years she spent in that cave weren't wasted. :) Funnily enough, in 4 hours of speaking and answering a whole spectrum of questions, she rarely refered to the experience of being in the cave and nobody really asked her about it either.

I did learn one interesting tip for meditation. Apparently Milarepa used to meditate with a lighted butter lamp on his head to ensure he didn't drift off to sleep or get drowsy! Not sure if I'm going to emulate him but it's a powerful image. May relate more highlights once I've gone over my notes.

Namaste.

Patricia: I look forward to visiting you when you hit the west coast! see you then

Josie: I enjoyed reading what you sent to Peggy! {{Super}}

Cecile: WOW! Your post was so real.

OOOOPS!

Carbon Dioxide is CO2 and not C2O.

I have asked many Phd's in Chemistry about this anamoly/riddle.

Maybe water came from space riding the coattails of comets!

Help me out!

Ravi

Hi Kitty, Chris, Carol, Geoff and all,

How have you all been? Chris, that water piece you wrote is simplicity itself but an eyeopener. I believe Herman Hesse also said something along those lines in Sidhartha. Does anyone know why water (h2O) is in a liquid state whereas Carbon Dioxide(C2O), a much heavier molecule is in a gaseous state normally.

I'm trying to build a case for Earth's environment having come into existence as a very special case, like a once-never-to-happen-again event by forces who know better!

Hi Kitty, how are you enjoying teaching?

Carol, yes, Melbourne and not Boca!

I concur; since there is no such thing as 'time', there's no future or past to any thing, object or event. What we feel around us is the everchanging expression of Consciousness or Brahma or God, whatever 'word' one feels comfortable with.

Hadi, you are a consummate observer! Nothing escapes your keen eye!

May Om's grace light your path for the 'now'.

In eternal gratitude for your words of wisdom,

Ravi

PS "The Eternal Feminine Draws us on." - Goethe

At 45 years old, it seems I have too many memories. I am filled with gratitude that I am still here, and I cherish every breath, every step, the chronological age thing just seems to compound itself, through the physical, the dream state, the profound complexity of the wisdom I've accumulated, however limited it may be... Even at this age, I still want to be somebody, want to make my voice heard, I want my music to bring awesome beauty to the souls who hear it, and I want my tomatoes to grow lovely and bear fruit and I wonder if I will ever again connect with my grandparents after I pass on in spirit. Is it the curse of being human? We know so much, yet I long for the innocence of not knowing. Is the answer to life and all other questions always simply acceptance, without always sufficient explanation??? After 45 years, I still want to see sunrises over mountains, rinse my feet in the cool river, eat bananas on the beach, and I still want to feel like a teenager. And I still want to know why. Do other people still wonder about these things?

Hi, everyone..Just saw the movie "Scary Movie", by the Wayans Family. It is absolutely hysterical!!Tomorrow I am intending to see "The Kid", w/ Bruce Willis--after my noon fellowship meeting.

Namaste' all

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

for bein' such a disappointment

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

for makin' so many mistakes

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

for betrayin' your gracious employment

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

i guess i just haven't got what it takes

.

.

.

.

.

.

i don't know what you want, don't know what you believe

.

.

.

.

.

.

i don't know how to act anymore

.

.

.

.

.

.

or how long i can keep juggling

.

.

.

.

.

.

can i ever possibly hope to pass inspection?

.

.

.

.

.

.

can't i just confess and be forgiven?

.

.

.

.

.

.

guilty of the grievous crime of human imperfection

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

i'm sorry

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

for sayin' all things are not equal

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

for claimin' something's gotta give

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

but there's no point in wastin' time tryin' to round up the dealers

.

.

.

.

.

.

when some people's future's so bleak they need drugs

.

.

.

.

.

.

just to get up the courage to live

.

.

.

.

.

.

in another kingdom life is sacred, love commendable

.

.

.

.

.

.

here we bow the knee to progress

.

.

.

.

.

.

where we're all secretly expendable

.

.

.

.

.

.

can i ever possibly hope to pass inspection?

.

.

.

.

.

.

can't i just confess and be forgiven?

.

.

.

.

.

.

guilty of the grievous crime of makin' such suggestions

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

i'm really sorry

.

.

.

.

.

.

yeah i hope my congressperson can forgive me

.

.

.

.

.

.

i hope i've not offended my beloved president

.

.

.

.

.

.

but i wanna know

.

.

.

.

.

.

where is that nation under god

.

.

.

.

.

.

with liberty and justice and blah blah blah

.

.

.

.

.

.

it was a great idea on paper

.

.

.

.

.

.

but it hasn't actually happened yet

.

.

.

.

.

.

now maybe i'm a wild card

.

.

.

.

.

.

or maybe i'm a trend

.

.

.

.

.

.

maybe i'm a two hundred million headed monster

.

.

.

.

.

.

and you will hear from us again

.

.

.

.

.

.

oh can i ever possibly hope to pass inspection?

.

.

.

.

.

.

can't i just confess and be forgiven?

.

.

.

.

.

.

guilty of the grievous crime of makin' these suggestions

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me

.

.

.

.

.

.

pardon me for livin'

.

.

.

.

.

.

Really have the higest regard for you & Wayne Dyer. the messages & help to understand LIFE is really unique.I really apreciate the help that you have given. Would appreciate if you could tel me how to learn to meditate.Desperately need to learn how.Manny thanks for the unserstanding that I really knew but didnt! amtrying to make a Diference myself if I have time to learn. God Bless Bill

DOES THERE EXIST VIDEO TAPES OF THE SATSANGS IF SO, HOW CAN WE ORDER THEM HERE IN NETHER- LANDS (OHM?) OR IN BELGIUM ? MANY THANKS FOR YOUR ANSWER.

imagine that we might repeat certain incidents lifetime after lifetime......without ever learning anything from them....and some may repeat the same drama, over and over, in the same lifetime....

~Thursday, July 6, 2000 ~

Q: Am I to understand that my reality is mine and mine alone and when I die this physical death, everyone and everything in it will cease to exist because it is only an illusion?

A: If you believe in reincarnation, you carry the illusion with you from one incarnation to another. Even though we usually don't remember them, everyone we meet is probably someone we have previously encountered.

www.chopra.com

Hi Phoenix,
It is always fascinating to learn about mandalas. It is one of the most unique and exquisite of all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism. In Tibetan this art is called dul-tson-kyil-khor, which literally means "mandala of colored powders." Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks. When finished, to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists, the colored sands are swept up and poured into a nearby river or stream where the waters carry the healing energies throughout the world.

Here are some good links about Mandalas:

Center of the Circle Collection of links about Mandalas
Mandala: Buddhist Tantric Diagram
Mandala Information

Have a great weekend,
Dolores

Hi Peggy! I can't believe that it has been a YEAR since we saw each other! How are you doing? I'll e-mail you later:) It is GREAT to see you.
Dolores

And everyone else too! (But reading backwards gave me a headache...)

Halya, so much of what has been said here to me in the last day or so holds wisdom for you too!

Don't bury your feelings unless you think it is good to do that. Don't over analyze unless you need to. Don't think too much about the past or the future but when you do, let it be with a sense of releasing. Don't get caught up in "the shoulds." If any of our words strike a chord in you, notice that the chord was within you already.

Most importantly, what do YOU think you might do? Try stepping aside from yourself and pretend that you are giving advice to a friend in the same situation.

Peace, merriment and light...

P.S. Hi, Chris!

And Josie, thank you too! I'm reading the forum backwards. :-)

(((Hadi!))) You have a habit of saying just the right thing at the right time.

Continuing with the Gibran analogy, sometimes if we are to close to the fabric, we cannot see the pattern we are weaving.

You are right. I should stop picking at my emotions about this and be grateful that I am NOT traumatized. That, too, has happened for a reason

Then I must show compassion for this human being who has had what must be a terribly difficult life. I don't know the best way YET.

Peggy, since it was a quiet day I had a chance to review, and I had some thoughts. It strikes me that this incident did not happen to you in isolation or without reason. There was another party involved. Another victim.
One of the things I have come to appreciate is that everyone in our lives is there to serve a purpose. That there is a divine intelligence working behind all the things which are happening to us. Like your analogy of the mountain, it is hard to see the path sometimes when we are clinging to the rocks. But if we have learned to detach and take a wider view, putting ourselves in the third person position, we may see a more meaningful picture. These principles apply not only to you, but to the robber. If the message seems difficult to see perhaps you are looking from the wrong position. It was he who set this journey in motion. You have just reacted within the field of cause and effect.
Your present feelings, your inner conflicts, these may simply be signals. Morse code from the other side. You could proceed, propelled by cause and effect, to be a victim and continue to examine your wounds and revisit the scene, or you could make a "conscious choice" to be the healer. After all, it is not your fault he is in prison now, that was part of "his" Karma. He created that reality. But it could be that you are part of his lesson, just as he could be part of your growth. After all, you are the wise one. You are the teacher. Perhaps he would like some cake, or a kind word. Your forgiveness, maybe. Your guidance for sure.
Why did this man need to rob?

"The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,
And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed.
The rightous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked,
And the white handed is not clean in the doings of the felon.
Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured.
And still more times the condemned is the burden bearer of the guiltless and unblamed.
You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked;
For they stand together before the face of the Sun even as the black thread and the white are woven together.
And when the black thread breaks, the Weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and shall examine the loom also.

~ Khalil Gibran.

{{{{patricia}}}}

bon voyage

J

Hay alguien de habla hispana que pueda contestarme???

In almost all books of Deepak Chopra he explains the essence of all things namely information and energy. What I'm interested in is how concretely(scientifically) the transfer from energy levels(inner world) into material world (outer world) is taking place. How does this mechanism of attracting and creating is working?

Peggy; A hero is one who knows how to hang on one min longer. The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. The best and most beautiful things ....cannot be seen or even touched.The must be felt with the heart. Where there is sorrow ,there is Holy Ground.... God Bless Honey Love Josie

mornin ..thinking about the mandala and the creation of it...think about just placing these teeny pieces of colored sand in the form of design and beauty brings me to think that with each miniscule section, one is in the moment, the now in it's entire creation. it brings me to think when i learned to weave baskets, all i could think of was the over and under of each reed and nothing else...i would tend to think that the same thought would prevail..also, wasn't it Hadi who mentioned in the story about the 'impermanence' of things? well the mandala, i'm sure is based on the same ...i think that i read somewhere that the mandala makings are used for the practice...and impermanance is part of the deal....

i have to run..there are people in the shop and i still want to check out the site that you were so kind to refer me to. x

thank you, Geoff, for the Dalai Lama quote. i particularly enjoyed this line;

The ultimate source of my happiness
is my peace of mind.

Peggy, just one final thought for the day. :) I just read Sylvia's post and I agree with the idea that "there's no particular way you should react." As the Dalai Lama often says, I don't know if this will be of any use to you but about a year ago i had this little "flash" of insight that we'd all be better off if we removed the word "should" from our vocabularies. I think I posted this idea to the Forum a while back. When you think about it, the word "should" is all tied up with expectations and conditioning. Whether it is applying the word "should" to your own actions or the actions of others. Lemme know if this makes any sense. it's time for my nap. :)

Enjoyed the excerpt from Richard Bach. Because of its aquatic theme, it has a few parallels to an article about the Theory of Everything by physicist Michio Kaku which I found at a site called "Stephen Hawking's Universe". They both deal with "leaps of faith".

Crown/Harmony Books

Comments by users are not endorsed by Random House. The Deepak Chopra Forum is intended to provide a place for the exchange of information, opinions, and comments. Random House does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify, or agree with the comments, opinions, or statements posted in the Forum. Any information or material placed online, including advice and opinions, are the views of those who post the statements, and does not necessarily represent the views of Random House. Privacy Policy